How to Crop a PDF Page (Trim Margins, Remove Headers)
Got a PDF with huge white margins or unwanted headers? Crop them out in 30 seconds. Free, all pages or each one individually.
PDF pages often have content you don't want: huge margins, a repeating logo at the top of every page, a "page 1 of 50" footer, or a sliver of the next page that crept in during scanning. Cropping fixes all of that.
Here's how.
What "crop" actually does to a PDF
Two definitions:
- Visible crop (default in most tools): the page size changes to your new dimensions, but the cropped content is still in the file — just outside the new visible boundary. Open the file in a PDF editor and you could "uncrop" it. File size barely changes.
- Permanent crop (the option you want for sharing): the cropped content is deleted from the file. Smaller file. Can't be recovered.
pdfty's crop tool defaults to visible crop (faster), with a "Remove cropped content" toggle for the permanent version. For privacy (removing a logo) or filesize (trimming huge scan margins), use the permanent crop.
How to crop a PDF — step by step
Open the crop tool
Go to pdfty.com/tools/crop.
Upload your PDF
Drag in the file. Free up to 20 MB.
Draw the crop frame
A rectangle appears over the first page. Drag the corners to define what you want to keep. Everything outside the frame gets removed.
Toggle "Apply to all pages" (default on) or "Crop each page individually" if pages need different treatment.
Pick visible vs permanent
Default = visible crop (cropped content is hidden, original file size).
Toggle "Remove cropped content" for permanent crop (smaller file, content actually deleted).
Apply and download
The new PDF is your cropped version. Download.
Common crop scenarios
| Scenario | Crop approach | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Scanned book with huge margins | Apply to all pages | Pages are the same size — one crop fits all |
| Report with company logo at top | Apply to all pages, crop above header line | Removes repeating header from every page |
| Mixed photos and text | Crop each page individually | Photo pages need different framing than text pages |
| One page accidentally rotated | Use rotate first, then crop | Cropping a rotated page gives a turned crop frame |
| Multi-column newsletter | Don't crop — usually breaks layout | Better to convert to Word and reflow if you need to edit |
Will the file get smaller after cropping?
If filesize matters a lot, after cropping run the result through Compress — combination of permanent crop + compress can shrink a 30 MB scanned book to 3-4 MB.
Frequently asked questions
Can I crop just one page out of many?
Yes — turn off "Apply to all pages" and go through each page in the preview. Each page can have its own crop frame, or no crop at all.
Will text inside the crop be searchable?
Yes — text doesn't get re-rendered during cropping. Real PDF text stays as real PDF text, searchable and selectable.
What about scanned PDFs?
Works the same way. The visible image is cropped. If you want the OCR layer to stay aligned, crop before running OCR — or crop, then re-run OCR on the cropped file.
Will cropping break hyperlinks?
Hyperlinks tied to specific text inside the kept area — preserved. Hyperlinks attached to elements you cropped out — gone (the element they pointed to is gone too).
Can I undo a crop?
If you used visible crop (default), open the file in a PDF editor and reset the crop box — the original content is still there.
If you used permanent crop ("Remove cropped content"), no — the content is truly deleted. Keep your original PDF as a backup until you verify the crop looks right.
Why is my preview blurry?
The preview is downscaled for speed. The actual download is full-resolution.
Is there a file size limit?
20 MB free, unlimited on Pro ($9/mo).
The pdfty team builds privacy-first online PDF tools — compress, convert, OCR, sign and protect. Files are deleted within 1 hour. About us →
